Privacy Notice
At Folkestone and Faversham Osteopathy, we are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our patients’ personal information. We understand the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal health information and we adhere to all applicable privacy laws and regulations including GDPR. This privacy policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.
1. Collection of personal Information
We collect personal information such as your name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, health history, and insurance information. This information is necessary for us to provide healthcare services to you. We collect this information through various means, including in-person verbal or written, over the phone, through our website, email forms or email, or through third-party providers such as Ideal Receptionist and Cliniko (see below). Calls may be recorded or monitored for quality assurance and training purposes.
2. Use of Personal Information
We use your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. This may include providing osteopathic treatment and a management plan including exercises and advice and/or referring you to other healthcare providers. We may also use your personal information for administrative purposes, such as billing and record-keeping. Anonymised health data may be used by us or third party academic research organisations for research purposes.
3. Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to other healthcare providers who are involved in your care, such as specialists or hospitals but will always ask for written consent before doing this. We may also disclose your personal information to your insurance provider for billing purposes or provide a receipt for this purpose. We will always ask your consent to share any of your personal information unless required by law.
4. Protection of Personal Information
We take all reasonable measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We have implemented physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
5. Access to Personal Information
You have the right to access and request a copy of your personal information that we have collected. You may also request that we correct any errors in your personal information. To request access to or correction of your personal information, please contact our privacy officer at tamsyn@favershamosteopathy.co.uk
6. Retention of Personal Information
Osteopaths in the UK are required to retain patient records for a minimum of eight years after the date of the last treatment or, in the case of a child, eight years after their 25th birthday. This is in accordance with the GOC’s “Guidance on Records and Record Keeping” which outlines the requirements for osteopaths in terms of creating, maintaining, storing, and disposing of patient records.
7. Cliniko and Ideal receptionist
At Healthcare Clinic, we use Cliniko as our practice management software to manage patient appointments, medical records, and billing. Cliniko is a third-party service provider and handles personal information on our behalf. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that Cliniko complies with our privacy policies and all applicable privacy laws and regulations.
We also use Ideal receptionist to provide telephone answering and appointment scheduling services for our patients. Ideal Receptionist Services is a third-party service provider and handles personal information on our behalf.
Collection and Use of Personal Information by Cliniko and Ideal Receptionist
Cliniko may collect personal information such as your name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, health history, and insurance information. This information is necessary for Cliniko to provide services to us, including managing patient appointments and medical records.
Cliniko and Ideal Receptionist may use your personal information to provide services to us, including scheduling appointments, sending appointment reminders, and managing billing. Cliniko may also use your personal information to improve their services and develop new features.
Faversham and Folkestone Osteopathy may submit information to the Cliniko Services for hosting and processing purposes (“Customer Data”). Cliniko will not review, share, distribute, or reference any such Customer Data except as provided in Cliniko’s Terms of Service (https://www.cliniko.com/policies/terms/), or as may be required by law. In accordance with Cliniko’s Terms of Service, Cliniko may access Customer Data only for the purpose of providing the Services, or preventing or addressing service or technical problems, or as may be required by law.
Protection of Personal Information by Cliniko
Cliniko takes all reasonable measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Cliniko implements physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information. Data is encrypted, stored in state-of-the-art facilities, access is restricted to those who have a need to know, and Cliniko regularly review their technology to maintain security.
For more information and Cliniko’s full Privacy policy, please visit: https://www.cliniko.com/policies/privacy/
8. Policy updates and contact information
We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our privacy practices. We encourage you to review this privacy policy periodically. If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy, please contact our privacy officer at tamsyn@favershamosteopathy.co.uk
By accessing our healthcare services, you agree to the terms of this privacy policy and the additional terms outlined in this addendum regarding Cliniko and Ideal Receptionist Services.
• Tamsyn Webb, the principal osteopath, in both Faversham and Folkestone is in charge of Data Protection.
If you have any queries or concerns about how we handle your data, do contact me on 01795 353807 or 01303 300699, or via email at tamsyn@favershamosteopathy.co.uk. I will be happy to discuss further with you!
